Nina and I met at a friend’s daughter’s confirmation.

She asked what I did, I said “I was an artist”. She thought I was joking and said “I’m an artist too”. She wasn’t far from the truth as she is an artist, there is an artist in everyone, like singing, only around 2% of people are tone deaf.

Nina is competent in a diverse range of skills.  Drawing, sewing, crocheting, knitting, cooking, interior design, gardening, to name a few.

At the time she was working as a natural pharmaceutical rep which sounds different from being an artist, however she was not your average pharmaceutical rep, she managed to channel her creativity.

For example she would make the most wonderfully healthy and beautifully decorated sandwiches and serve them to her doctors and staff, building up a reputation as someone they wanted to see rather than avoid.

She learnt that engaging in their interests and having the ability to discuss a range of subjects rather than adhering to her companies guidelines not only helped her build rapport, it gained their respect which eventuated in sales. She was regarded as an exceptional sales representative and manager of her territory, the bayside of Melbourne and Tasmanian.

Life is different with Nina!

The doctors practice I visited was somewhat conservative in Hawthorn. Out of the doctors she visited she thought the best ones generally were the Greek, Vietnamese or Jewish doctors. Now instead of waiting to see a doctor in an orderly room with a few patients, magazines and a book on impressionists I now wait in Richmond with a room full of mainly Greek people. Occasionally as I leave I’m offered a plate of Greek cakes to take home. Gifts that are bought in by other patients for the practice. The medical practice is next to a Greek church, some days you see Greek ladies standing next to large vats making bees wax candles for the church. The air is full of the scent of honey and bees wax.

I was and still are Nina’s heat sink. During her busy days driving around visiting surgeries, complying to drug companies bureaucracy (having to note each part of her day) she would arrive home or ring to give me a running commentary of her frustrations. Most of the time I listened or offered some advice. In the back of my head I remembering the book Women are from Venus. Men are from Mars, I was careful to remember women just want to talk they don’t want a solution.

I also enjoyed listening to her struggles as I was alone painting during the week.

Our second question was what else do you do? Gardening was mentioned. We both loved gardening.

Among the many places we garden together, one of them is at a block of flats in Footscray.

Nina’s twin brother Paul bought a front apartment there and we said we would help him with the garden. It wasn’t long before the front apartment next to Paul’s was for sale and Nina bought it.

I think it’s amusing that she now has an apartment next door to her twin brother when she could have bought an apartment anywhere else.

Paul was lucky as he had a large deciduous tree in his west facing apartment that would block the sun in summer and lose its leaves in winter to allow the winter sun in.

Nina’s apartment had no tree and the area in front facing west was paved in concrete.

We (Ninas’s mum helped too) first broke the concrete, planted lawn, a garden and built a fence to stop people turning the garden into a pathway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the above we had helped Paul Nina’s brother to plant a garden in between a fence and the units, running east west. The soil was covered with plastic sheeting to prevent plants growing. We pulled up some of the sheets. Went to the local tip for a truck load of free mulch and surrounded the plants in it. We put in hardy plants like lavender, mint, sage, angels trumpet , eupatorium, citrus, ect as we thought they could look after themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The soil there is surprisingly fertile.

While gardening there we couldn’t help noticing some cars using the street as a possible drag strip or to bypass traffic in a nearby main street.

Half way along the the street was a speed barrier slowing cars down. A car would have to wait for whoever arrived at the speed barrier first. There were no plants on the barrier even though there was soil surrounded by a concrete gutter.

It looked like cars that couldn’t wait for another car had drive over the concrete curb and on to the barrier and continue on it’s way.

We had some yuccas we had pruned from somewhere and we planted them there thinking anything was better than barren ground.

While planting hardy cuttings and plants we found, we met a group of local boys playing cricket from a park nearby. Nina organised them to help us plant out the road barrier.

Being her entrepreneur self she rang a local landscape gardener an he delivered a load of mulch before the plants were planted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nina rewarded the boys and I with icypoles!

I hope boys are showing peace signs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the boys became quite close to us. He said his parents were working, we took him to a local Vietnamese restaurant once. He also came over to help us garden other times.

The first photo below is of the south side of the apartments. The second the north side where we planted the garden. The quote of  Hundertwasser “straight lines are godless comes to mind. Many tenants in the apartments have said the reason why they chose to live there was because of the south garden. We are lucky to have met many wonderful people originating from countries around the world in the area. Many people from the apartments help us garden, take an interest in it and have their own area for growing vegetables. Unfortunately on the north side car park, a new fence was installed, a body corporate was involved and trees were cut down.